NAfME staff, along with many of our state MEA representatives, Collegiate members, and High School members have all been hard at work advocating for the importance of Music Education in core curricula in our schools! We are excited to share with you all of the things we have been doing, and the wonderful recognition we have received for our efforts.
Congressional Briefing
On Thursday, June 16th, NAfME lead a Congressional briefing titled, “Music Education Powers STEAM: The Broader Minded Role of Music in Preparing a 21st– Century Workforce.”
Supported by Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (OR) and Congressman Aaron Schock (IL), since its creation in 2013, the bipartisan Congressional STEAM Caucus has grown to include 63 members of Congress. The STEAM movement focuses on the inclusion of the arts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) curricula, as the arts play a unique and critical role in helping students develop the kind of innovative and creative skills that they will need to succeed in the 21st-century workforce. NAfME’s objective for the briefing was to explore the role of music in STEAM curricula, and to discuss how music helps students develop the workforce skills they will need to succeed after completing their studies.
Watch the full video recording
2014 NAfME Hill Day
On Friday, June 27, the day after the Congressional briefing, more than 150 music education leaders and supporters from every state in the United States and Europe visited Capitol Hill for NAfME Hill Day 2014. They shared with elected officials the urgent need to ensure the continued preservation of school-based music programs across America.
As part of the Hill Day advocacy event Andrew Dost, a singer and composer from the GRAMMY winning musical group FUN., urged support of school-based music programs during key Hill Day 2014 congressional visits. NAfME presented Dost with its Stand 4 Music Award.
Watch the 2014 NAfME Hill Day Highlight Video
2014 Collegiate Summit
2014 marked the first year NAfME had Collegiate members participate in Hill Day, and were joined by 50 Collegiate Members from across the US. These students, alongside their respective MEA representatives, met with their state delegation to advocate for the importance of music education in schools. They also met at the NAfME headquarters in Reston, VA, to discuss what they could take away from their experience, both to their respective NAfME Collegiate Chapters, and to their individual careers.
Learn more about the NAfME Collegiate Advocacy Summit
2014 Tri-M Chapter of the Year
The National Chapter of the Year program is designed to motivate and reward chapters that perform service projects, encourage Chapter Officers to perform their duties properly, and increase awareness and interest in what other Tri-M chapters are doing. All active chapters are eligible to participate. The Chapter of the Year Scholarship is intended to recognize the achievements of three Junior Division and three Senior Division Chapters in any given school year.
BroaderMinded ASAE Power of A Award
The National Association for Music Education is pleased to announce that its new broader mindedTM advocacy campaign has received the ASAE Power of A® Silver Award. “The Power of A Awards recognize a select number of organizations annually that distinguish themselves with innovative, effective and broad-reaching programs and activities that positively impact America and the world,” explained ASAE President and CEO John H. Graham IV. “The Power of A Awards recognize and celebrate the extraordinary contributions associations make to society by enriching lives, creating a competitive workforce, preparing society for the future, driving innovation and making a better world. Power of A Awards are the highest industry recognition that a program can receive.”
Understanding that music not only impacts academic achievement, but also shapes the way our students understand themselves and the world around them, broader minded promotes sequential, standards-based classroom music accessibility by emphasizing the need to educate the whole student. With an interactive website, other media, background documents, and merchandise, the campaign provides music education advocates—teachers, students, parents, and supporters—necessary arguments for the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits of music education to use in making their cases for their programs.
Learn more about broaderminded
Harris Poll
After commissioning the original 2007 Harris Poll, NAfME was elated to learn that Nielsen Interactive thought the previous findings were so powerful, they decided to commission the 2014 Harris Poll on their own accord. The best part? The results! With three quarters (76%) of all Americans having had some sort of music education during school, the intrinsic value of music programs has become ever more apparent as students now enter the workforce, equipped with necessary 21st-century skills gleaned from their music programs.
Read about the amazing results
See the 2014 Harris Poll Results in our NAfME created Infographic
